Mount Pleasant Cemetery
There are two historical plaques at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Here at the Yonge Street entrance you will find a plaque attached to the gates. Here's what it says:
Almost the entire 80 ha of land now comprising Mount Pleasant Cemetery extending from Yonge Street to Bayview Avenue was purchased in 1873 in what was then the Village of Deer Park. Following three years of development the first interment took place on March 13th, 1876. At that time the City of Toronto had a population of about 68,000 people with its northern boundary at Bloor Street. A toll gate stood on Gallows Hill on Yonge Street, just south of St. Clair Avenue. Much is owed to the prudence and foresight of the trustees of the Toronto General Burying Grounds of that time. By December 31st, 1965, 117,705 interments had been made in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
Location Co-ordinates: 43.692057 -79.395055
Photo by Alan L Brown - August 2007
In front of the cemetery office a short distance inside the Mt. Pleasant Avenue entrance you will find this Ontario Heritage Foundation plaque. It says:
In 1874 the Trustees of the Toronto General Burying Grounds hired H.A. Engelhardt, who was in the forefront of landscape gardening in Canada, to plan the transformation of ravine and plateau farmland into Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Prominent in this naturalistic setting with its curving drives are E.J. Lennox's Massey Mausoleum, private mausoleums in classical temple style, the public Mount Pleasant Mausoleum designed by Darling & Pearson, and a wide variety of granite monuments. Rare trees from around the world and existing native specimens make the Cemetery a significant arboretum. Since opening in 1876, this well-known green space has provided the final resting place for many prominent people, including a Canadian prime minister and several of Ontario's premiers and lieutenant-governors.
Location Co-ordinates: 43.696219 -79.383640
Photo by Alan L Brown - April 2004
Related page:
Potter's Field of Muddy York
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